CDI’s Aragones Named as Chair of New NJ HPV Vaccination Provider Task Force
October 01, 2024
Abraham Aragones, M.D., M.S., associate member of the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI, was named as the inaugural chair of an important new task force to combat the spread of human papillomavirus (HPV).
Dr. Aragones will head the New Jersey HPV Vaccination Provider Task force, the state announced Sept. 16, as they simultaneously released the New Jersey Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Action Plan: 2024-2026, a strategic overview of how to increase vaccination rates for the cancer-causing infection.
“We have a vaccine that prevents cancer, but it is woefully under-utilized,” said Dr. Aragones, in a statement released by the state and the American Cancer Society. “It is critical that pediatric and family practices implement best practices such as a strong recommendation and starting the series at age 9 to improve vaccination rates.”
Aragones, who arrived at the CDI in early 2023, brought his laboratory and work from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he focused on the public health study of cancer prevention in underserved groups. Aragones’s work focuses on population-level dynamics of health policy and the value of social media and communication in directing - or misleading - it. As such, he works in the CDI’s Cancer Prevention Precision Control Institute (CPPCI) with researchers investigating similar themes.
In his capacity as chair of the new task force, Aragones will be bringing together statewide health-care providers to actively achieve the broad goals proposed by the NJ HPV Vaccine Action Team, including promoting starting the HPV vaccine at age 9 to increase on-time completion rates, raise awareness about the HPV problem and what can be done to address it, partner with health plans to help them educate their members and providers about HPV, and facilitate a change in policy and system improvement to address outstanding statewide barriers.
The new state HPV plan was written by the New Jersey HPV Vaccination Action Team (NJ HPV VAT), a subgroup of the NJ State Cancer Coalition, which was launched in October of 2023 to help advance the HPV vaccination goals of the NJ Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan: 2021-2025.
“This new plan provides a critical roadmap for partners around NJ to work together to boost the lagging HPV vaccination rates that place the majority of young people in NJ at risk for future preventable cancers,” said Michael Seserman, leader of the NJ HPV Vaccination Action Team and Associate Director of State Partnerships for the American Cancer Society, in the release.
About 14 million people, including teens, become infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) each year. An estimated 85 percent of people will get HPV during their lives. While most HPV infections go away on their own without lasting health problems, there is no way to know if an infection will lead to cancer. HPV infection is known to cause six different types of cancer: cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, penile, and throat cancers.